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NOEL AND THE LITTLE 
PEOPLE OF THE WOODS 


































































































J^OEEAND IH&XllXtE 
pBopLE or ihe'Vooj)^' 

Nellie MPairpoint. 

Illustrated bu "the Authol*. 



W-A WILDE COMPANY 
B ostok-Chicago. 
















Copyright, IQ2I, 

By W. A. Wilde Company 

All rights reserved 

and the Little People of the Woods 
21 



MAR 24 1922 


©"LA661061 



Lovingly dedicated to the little people 
who are always listening to the Birds 
that sing; and watching the Wood- 
folk play; and talking to the Fairies 
of sunshine and moonlight , who help 
us to see and do the things worth while 






































Noel and the Little People 
of the Woods 

HE great, big Hill lay all wrapped up 
in snow. There was snow on every 
tree branch, and snow on every little 
twig and bush, and even the dried 
stalks of golden-rod that still held their heads up so 
that some hungry bird could get their seed for his 
breakfast, had their little cap of snow; while the 
ground was covered ever and ever so deep with a 
thick snow blanket. 

Away, ’way up on the hillside there was just a 

little spark of warm, glowing light, shining out of the 

11 













NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


window of Noel’s house, where the snow lay thick and 
soft on the roof, and on the top of all the windows, 
and on the door-steps, and down the path to the gate, 
and in great soft heaps and drifts along the stone wall 
round the garden. A soft, glowing, hopeful little 
light, that seemed to be calling out into the night, 
across all the thick, deep, white snow: “ Noel, Noel, 
we are all here waiting for you. Mother, and Jacinth, 
and Betty, and I. And we are trying to cheer each 
other, and to tell each other that we know everything 
will be all right, even if you are late. And if you 
should miss your way in the snowy world outside, I 
am calling, calling to guide you home.” And the 
little, soft, glowing light kept shining bravely, because 
Noel was very late coming home to-night, and no one 
knew where he was, or why he was so late. 

It was dark out-of-doors, for the big snow-clouds 
still hung black and heavy in the sky, and the moon 
was hidden behind them, and all round Noel’s house, 
and right up to the top of the Hill, lay Pixie Woods, 
dark, and silent. 


12 




OF THE WOODS 


Everybody who lived for miles and miles round the 
big Hill knew all about Pixie Woods; how they 
stretched all round the further side of the Hill and 
away up to its very top. There was just the place 
where the pathway ran up to Noel’s house clear, and 
the space where Noel’s garden and tiny house stood, 
and the great woods came up all round it. 

In Pixie Woods the very brightest flowers grew in 
the summer, and the birds who lived there were so 
happy that they sang much more than any other birds. 
And in the very center of the Woods was a beautiful 
spring of the clearest, purest water any one ever saw. 
And all the trees in Pixie Woods had such bright and 
glossy leaves, never dusty, or withered, or dry, like the 
trees have in the summer; and the acorns, and walnuts, 
and hazelnuts were much larger than anywhere else, 
and all the folks who lived round there knew these 
things happened in Pixie Woods, because the Pixie 
Fairies had their home there. 

To be sure, no one had ever seen the Pixiekins, but 

Noel said he had often heard them whistling, and 

13 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


whispering to each other, when he had been in the 
Woods in the summer time. And he had heard 
leaves rustle, and twigs snap, and he knew the Pixie- 
kins were all around him, but when he looked under 
the leaves, and round all the bushes, the rustling, and 
whistling, were always somewhere else, and although 
he had followed the sounds for miles and miles, and 
knew the Pixiekins were watching him and were all 
about him, he had never really seen them. 

To-night the Woods lay dark and silent, but every 
tree had a crown of white snow, and icicles hanging 
from every branch and twig like jewels, and tufts of 
snow on the bunches of dried leaves that still clung 
to the branches, and a heaped-up mass of snow round 
their roots, like a big fur robe. 

Then the moon peeped out from the snow-clouds 
that had covered the sky all day, and glimmered and 
glistened on every twig and branch and tiny icicle in 
Pixie Woods, on this last evening of the year. And 
little breezes came and parted the big clouds like cur¬ 
tains, until the moonlight crept down the tree stems, 
14 



OF THE WOODS 


and touched the tips of the bushes, and then the tops 
of the dried weed stalks, and at last it flooded along 
the path itself, that ran right into the heart of the 
Woods, to the very place where the Pixiekins lived. 

Now the Pixie Fairies are great friends of all the 
mice, and squirrels and birds, and butterflies, and they 
know everybody who lives in the Woods or who come 
there even to visit. 

But they are very busy little people; for there is a 
great deal to be done, when you have all the big 
Woods to take care of. It seemed as if they were 
just as busy as they could be, every day in the year, 
helping all their friends. The flowers needed them 
all through the spring and summer, to get through the 
ground in the spring, and to get their flowers just 
the right color in the summer, and to untangle their 
buds after hard winds had blown them all together. 
Then there were the young birds, and frogs, and 
grasshoppers, who had to have music lessons. Then 
the butterflies, and bees, and wasps, and flies, always 

depended on the Pixiekins every day in the summer 
15 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


to let them know just which flowers were going to open 
every morning so they could gather the honey; then 
in the autumn the squirrels and chipmunks needed 
help to gather the seeds and nuts for their winter 
stores; and when the cold weather came, all the trees 
and bushes had to have the dried leaves packed round 
their roots, so they would be nice and warm for the 
winter. Then it was Christmas time, and the Pixie- 
kins had to help Santa Claus pack all his gifts of nuts 
and honey, and they always helped him to distribute 
them all round the world. 

So you see, the Pixie Fairies are very busy people, 
and New Year’s Day is really the only real holiday 
they have in the whole year. Then all the work of 
the old year is finished, and the work of the new year 
has not begun, so on New Year’s Day they always 
have a celebration of their own, and you may be sure 
they had watched the storm-clouds all day very 
anxiously, hoping they would clear away before 
night. 

When the moonbeams lighted all the path leading 
16 





OF THE WOODS 


to the Pixiekins’ house, there was a little soft pad, 
pad, in the thick snow, and a white rabbit came hurry¬ 
ing through the Woods, and when he reached the 
path that led to the Pixiekins’ house, he sat up 
straight, to look at their front door, and his long ears 
shone a delicate shell-pink in the moonlight. Then 
there was more soft pad, padding, and other white 
rabbits came through the Woods, and stopped beside 
the roots of the big trees, till every tree had some 
rabbits beside it, and they all looked toward the 
Pixiekins’ front door, with their long shell-pink ears 
up very straight, as if they were expecting something 
to happen. 

Just then there was a whir-r-r-r,—whir-r-r-r,—and 
the big Brown Owl came through the Woods, and 
settled on the branch of the tree right in front of the 
Pixiekins’ front door, and he looked at it very hard, 
as if he expected something to happen. 

Then he gave his feathers a good shake, and he 
smoothed them all down his soft breast, and he ruffled 

them up on his head, so his long ears stood out very 

17 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


straight, and then he sung a little song to himself: 
“ Tu hoo! Tu hoo! The Old Year’s nearly done,” 
he sung softly. “ It’s been a good Old Year, and 
we’ve all been very happy in Pixie Woods. I, and 
all the little owls. Bunny Cottontail, and all the 
little Cottontails. White Rabbit, and all the little 
White Rabbits. Gray Squirrel, and Red Squirrel; 
Chipmunk, and Blue Jay; Song Sparrow, and Robin 
Redbreast; and all the other good folks of Pixie 
Woods; it has been a good Old Year to all of us. 
Tu hoo! TuhooJ” 

“ We join you, Brown Owl,” cried the White Rab¬ 
bits, with the shell-pink ears, “ in praise of the Good 
Old Year! ” 

And then there was a rustling, and scuffling, and 
fluttering, all through the tree branches, and through 
the dried weed stalks, and over the snow in the depths 
of the Woods, as if all the other Wood Folks joined 
too. 

Then Brown Owl gave his feathers another good 
shake, and he smoothed them all down his long, strong 

18 



OF THE WOODS 


wings, and he ruffled them up on his head, so his long 
ears stood out very straight, and his big round eyes 
shone and sparkled in the moonlight, and then he be¬ 
gan again to softly sing a little song to himself: 

“ Tu hoo! Tu hoo! The New Year’s coming 



now,” he sang to himself. “ The New Year’s full of 
hope for all of us. For I, and all the Owlets; for 
Bunny Cottontail, and their kin; White Rabbits with 
the shell-pink ears; Chipmunk, Field Mouse, and 

Father Raccoon; for Brown Bat, Junco, Wood 
19 





NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


Pecker, and all the other Good Folks of Pixie Woods. 
The coming New Year full of hope, we all of us 
welcome you! Tu hoo! Tu hoo! ” 

“ We join you, Brown Owl,” cried all the White 
Rabbits with the shell-pink ears together, “ in wel¬ 
come of the Good New Year! ” 

And then there was a rustling, and scuffling, and 
fluttering, all through the depths of the Woods again, 
as if all the other Wood Folks joined too. Then 
Brown Owl looked at the Pixiekins’ front door very 
hard, as if he expected something to happen. 

“ Oh, Brown Owl,” called out the White Rabbit 
that had first come, “ the Pixiekins don’t know the 
moon is shining. Why don’t you call them? ” 

Then Brown Owl sat up very straight, and opened 
his big, yellow eyes very wide, and he began to call: 

“ Tu hoo! Tu hoo! Come out! Come out! The 
moon is shining, and this is New Year’s Night. Tu 
hoo! Tuhoo!” 

Then Chestnut Pixiekin looked out of tKe front 
door, and saw the moonbeams glistening like snowy 
20 



OF THE WOODS 


diamonds on the path, making their own Woods look 
more like Fairy-Land than ever. 

“Ho Pixiekin, Fellows,” he shouted, “get your 
sleds and come on out to the path on the Hillside. 
This is a dandy night for coasting! ” 

There was the greatest hurrying, and scurrying, 
while they found their oak-leaf sleds, but in a few 
moments out came a whole squad of Pixiekins, sing¬ 
ing and shouting. 

Well, the Pixiekins were just the happiest, gayest 
little people you ever saw. They were all dressed in 
their new winter doublets and hoods, with the leaves 
of the trees embroidered on them. Each Pixiekin 
was named for some tree or plant, so Chestnut Pixie¬ 
kin had chestnut leaves on his doublet that made a 
beautiful pattern all over it, and Oak Pixiekin had 
oak leaves in borders all round the edge of his, and 
Willow Pixiekin had willow leaves in points round 
his, that looked like fringe, while Sassafras had a 
single big leaf in the front of his doublet. 

And their dresses were all the beautiful soft browns, 

21 


l 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


and gold, and gray and violet of the autumn colors, 
and as they came running and laughing down the 
path in the moonlight, in among the big gray tree 
trunks, each one dragging his sled made from an oak 
leaf, they looked just like a flock of butterflies danc¬ 
ing over the snow up to the top of the big Hill. 

And all the White Rabbits with the shell-pink ears 
joined them, and jumped and scampered along be¬ 
side them, and some went first and some followed 
after. 

“ Why! ” exclaimed Willow Pixiekin, who was 
the first to reach the top of the big Hill, “why, 
there isn’t any path to slide down! ” and sure enough 
there wasn’t. 

The snow lay smooth and thick just as it had 
fallen, and just as deep as it was in the Woods. 
There was just one little hollow near Noel’s gate, as 
if some one had started to shovel a path, and then had 
given it up, and it had got all covered up again with 
snow. 

But if you looked very closely it seemed as if some 
22 



OF THE WOODS 


one had tramped all through that deep snow up the 
Hill to Noel’s house, but the wind had blown the 
snow over the footsteps again, and the snowflakes 
had fallen heavily once more, so there was only a little 
hollow here and there, and you could hardly tell if 
some one had been to the house, or only some of the 
white rabbits had been jumping and burrowing, 
where the snow looked very deep. 

“ Noel did start to clear a path last night,” said 
Oak, “ but he soon got tired of it, and threw his snow 
shovel over that big rock, and went off to wander in 
the Woods. He is so careless that he never finishes 
anything that he begins.” 

The Pixiekins were quite perplexed, and did not 
know at all what to do. When Noel’s father had 
lived, he had always cleared a path from his tiny cot¬ 
tage beside Pixie Woods, right down to the foot of 
the Hill, but this year there was only Noel and his 
mother and two little sisters there, so the path had 
not been shoveled. 

“ Come on, Chestnut,” called Oak Pixiekin pres- 
23 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


ently, for he always tried to make the best of things, 
“ let’s fasten our sleds together, and try and break 
the way.” 

Down the Hill they started. Then the sleds sank 



into the soft snow, and it piled up in front of them, 
till it seemed to get deeper and deeper, and the sleds 
went slower and slower, until they stopped, and the 
Pixiekins had to get off and pull them out. 

“ Let’s run down first,” suggested Chestnut, who 
was very clever. “ You go first, Oak, because you 
are so strong.” 

They ran down the Hill through the drifts, Oak 


24 





OF THE WOODS 


leading the way. And some of the drifts were so 
deep, they could hardly get through, and in one very 
big drift in the middle of the Hill, Elm Pixiekin lost 
his balance and rolled right over into the snow, and 
Oak and Chestnut had to pull him out again, before 
they could go on. Then they tramped up the Hill 
again. But it was awfully hard work; why, they were 
all out of breath when they got back to the top. 
Then they got their sleds and tried again. 

“It’s no good, Oak,” declared Elm; “my sled 
won’t slide at all.” 

“ Nor mine,” said Willow. 

“ Oh, dear! ” exclaimed Elm, who was the smallest 
Pixiekin, beginning to cry. “ It isn’t any good at 
all.” 

“ Never mind, Elm,” said Willow, who was very 
kind-hearted. “ Never mind, I’ll drag you on my 
sled all the way home.” 

“ It’s too bad to have to give it up,” said Oak de¬ 
jectedly, “ but I don’t see what else we can do. Do 
you, Chestnut? ” 


25 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


“ I’ve been trying to think of something,” replied 
Chestnut gloomily, “ but I can’t think of a thing. 
And IVe scratched my head on both sides, too, and 
still no ideas will come.” 

The Pixiekins stood half-way down the Hill; first 
they looked up to where the great trees stood in dark 
shadows, against the silvery sky; then they looked 
down the Hill, and across the valley, where the 
hedges and stone walls, and fences, divided the land 
into squares like a great checker-board. A long way 
off lay the village, and its houses looked like silver 
dots with their snow-covered roofs, and in the center 
of them was the church spire, with the clock in it, and 
beyond was the hill that ran down to the river where 
the big trees grew that the Woodchopper and his 
men were cutting down to build houses with, and it 
was over there that Noel worked, helping the wood- 
choppers. 

And while the Pixiekins stood and looked across 
the valley, wondering what to do next, they heard 

the church clock strike. They all listened to the little 
26 




OF THE WOODS 


soft, silvery tones of the bell, as it came floating 
across the valley to them, on the still night air. 

“ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 
ten, eleven, twelve/’ counted Chestnut. 



“ Why, this is New Year’s Day,” exclaimed Oak, 
“ and we haven’t any slide, to slide down at all.” 

Then they all looked at each other, and Elm and 
all the small Pixiekins began to cry again. 

“ There, there,” said Willow, trying to comfort sev¬ 
eral of them at once. “ Don’t cry. We’ll drag you 
27 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


all home on our sleds. Won’t we, Oak and Chest¬ 
nut? ” 

“ Oh yes,” said Oak, “ but it does seem too bad, 
but I suppose we must give it up and go home.” 

Just as Oak said this the Moon peeped out from 
the mass of dark trees. A big yellow moon, and the 
Man-in-the-Moon seemed to look quite troubled as 
he looked down at them, and it almost seemed as if he 
said to the little light shining in the window of Noel’s 
house: “ It’s too bad. It’s too bad. We ought to 
do something. But I’m going to keep right on shin¬ 
ing. It will come out right. I know it will! ” 

And then the White Rabbits with the shell-pink 
ears came out from the edge of the Woods, and they 
came over to the band of Pixiekins, and they jumped 
all round them, and some ran first, and some fol¬ 
lowed after, as if they were trying to comfort them, 
and would have helped them if they could. 

They started down the Hill, the big ones dragging 
the little ones on their sleds, but they felt very sorrow¬ 
ful, and some of the little ones cried all the way. 

28 




OF THE WOODS 


When they came to their own path in the Woods, 
it seemed as if there was a rustling, and scuttering, 
and fluttering, all through the Woods, as if all the 
Wood Folks were trying to tell the Pixiekins how 
sorry they were for them; and the trees swung and 
swayed their branches in the breeze and sighed and 
moaned to tell the Pixiekins that they, too, were 
sorry for them. And all the icicles that had shone, 
and glittered, like brilliant little lamps, when the 
Pixiekins had started for the celebration on the Hill¬ 
side, seemed to have grown dim, and all the world 
had become dull and drab, in sympathy with the 
Pixiekins’ trouble, and they were a very quiet little 
band as they went along their own path that led to 
their own house. And the White Rabbits with the 
shell-pink ears ran along very quietly too, and they 
all scattered among the trees as they came to their 
own Woods again. 

The Pixiekins’ front door was in the hollow trunk 
of a great oak tree, the very largest tree that grew in 

Pixie Woods, and when you looked at it in the moon-^ 
29 






are tjoil? WKo are you?” j 

cried ^Brown. Owl* J 


30 







































































































OF THE WOODS 


light, at twelve o’clock on New Year’s Eve, any one 
could see that it was a front door, although it looked 
just like the trunk of a big tree at any other time. 
But there in the moonlight, sure enough, was a blue- 
green front door, with a big brass latch, and one of 
the oak tree roots came right across it, making a door¬ 
step, while the Pixiekins’ friend, the big Brown Owl, 
sat on a branch above the door to take care of the 
house while the Pixiekins were away for New Year’s 
Day. 

As the Pixiekins came to the turn in the path, they 
saw somebody standing on the door-step, knocking 
very hard at the door, while their friend the Brown 
Owl was scolding. 

“Tu hoo! Tu hoo!” exclaimed the Brown Owl. 
“ Who are you? Who are you? ” 

“ That’s none of your business! ” declared the 
stranger, and he knocked harder than ever. 

“ Tu hoo! Tu hoo!” spluttered Brown Owl. 
“ But it is my business. Who are you? Who are 
you? ” 


31 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


“ Hullo! ” exclaimed Oak. “ Why, who is that at 
our front door? ” 

“ I never saw him before,” declared Chestnut. 
“And I thought I knew every one who came to the 
Woods.” 

“ I never saw him before either,” said Willow. 
And Elm put his finger in his mouth, and stared with 
big, round eyes. 

Then the stranger turned round and saw them. 

“ Good-morning,” he remarked, coming to meet 
them, “ for it is morning now, you know. It always 
is, after the church clock strikes twelve, and the moon 
is shining.” 

He was a very little boy dressed all in white, with 
a big white fur collar round his neck, and fur round 
his boots, and fur round the edge of his red cap, and 
he carried a very big book under his arm. Now he 
opened the book in a most businesslike way, and shut 
it with a bang, two or three times, and it made every 
Pixiekin jump, as if it had been a gun. 

“ Good-morning! ” he said again, and Bang! went 
32 




OF THE WOODS 


the book. “ Good-morning! I’ve called for your 
pledges.” Bang! Bang! went the book, and every 
Pixiekin jumped and jumped. 



r “ Pledges?” gasped Willow helplessly. 

“ Pledges? ” panted Chestnut. 

“ Pledges? ” gurgled Oak. 

“ Yes,” said the very little one, “ I am the New 

Year. I only came when the clock struck. The Old 
33 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


Year left at that time. Everybody makes pledges 
for the New Year, you know. You decide just what 
you pledge to do this year, then you sign the book. 
If you don’t keep the pledge just as you want to, why 
you turn over a new leaf, and start again. It’s very 
simple. So I have called for yours. But what’s the 
matter with you? You look as if you have been cry¬ 
ing. You have been crying, you know?” and he 
pointed his finger at Elm, who could not stop his 
desire to cry again. 

“Why,” explained Oak rather hurriedly, “we 
wanted to go coasting on New Year’s Day, but there 
isn’t any path on the Hillside, and the snow is so soft, 
we can’t make a slide.” 

“And we tried, and tried,” added Chestnut. 

“Well,” said New Year thoughtfully, sucking the 
end of his big quill pen, “this is very difficult; but 
it ought to be done. We must find some way to make 
a slide so you can celebrate my birthday. What we 
need is a mortal to help.” 

“ Noel is the only mortal who comes this way,” said 
34 




OF THE WOODS 


Chestnut Pixiekin. “And he is very careless, and 
does not think what he is doing.” 

“ He started to shovel the path last night,” said 
Oak, “ but he soon got tired of it, and threw his 



shovel away, and went off, and forgot all about it, I 
expect.” 

“ Let’s go back to the Hill,” said the New Year. 

So the Pixiekins all went back to the Hillside, and 
35 






NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


New Year led the way with Oak and Chestnut on 
each side of him, telling him what they had done to 
make the slide. 

And as they went along, all the White Rabbits 
with the shell-pink ears peeped out again from the 
tree roots, and then they joined and galloped with 
them all through the Woods, but they stopped at the 
edge, and did not venture out into the moonlight. 
And the icicles again began to glitter softly, and there 
was a fluttering, and scuttering, and rustling all 
through the Woods, as if the Wood Folks thought 
there was a chance that things might come out rightly 
yet. And the breeze amongst the tree branches be¬ 
gan to whistle and sing, quite hopefully. 

As they came out of the Woods, the moon was shin¬ 
ing in a clear sky, and the snow lay soft and white in 
the moonlight, and still the little light was shining 
in the window of Noel’s house. And it seemed as 
the moon shone so steadily, as if the Man-in-the-Moon 
looked worried, and said to the little light in the win¬ 
dow of Noel’s house, “ We’ve just got to keep shin- 
36 




OF THE WOODS 


ing. Something will come out right presently. Let’s 
keep right on. I’m going to.” 

“ Noel has not come home yet,” remarked Willow 
Pixiekin, “ for there is still the light in the window 
that his mother always puts there for him when he is 
late.” 

“ He wouldn’t be any use,” declared Oak. “ He is 
so thoughtless. Then you know we must not ask a 
mortal to help us, even on New Year’s Eve, and in 
the moonlight when they can see us, or else we be¬ 
come invisible at once and lose our wish. And he 
would never think to offer to help us.” 

“ I saw him one day in the Woods last summer,” 
said Chestnut Pixiekin. “Amd he could hear us as 
we danced round him, but of course he couldn’t see 
us because the sun was shining; and he hunted and 
hunted for us, under all the leaves, and round all the 
rocks, and when we danced off he followed us, all the 
way to the Crystal Spring. He seemed to be trying 
so hard to see us, that I really think he would help 
us now if he knew how.” 


37 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


“ But he would never think to offer to help any¬ 
body,” declared Oak. 

“Why, there he is now!” exclaimed Chestnut, 
“ coming up the Hill with his basket on his shoulder. 
He looks very tired.” 

“ But he is so thoughtless,” said Oak, “ that he 
wouldn’t help.” 

“ I think he is a kind-hearted boy,” declared Wil¬ 
low. 

“We shall have to wait in hopes that some one else 
will come, who is not so careless,” said Oak. 

As Noel plodded up the steep Hill through the 
deep snow, with his basket on his shoulder, he looked 
tired and discouraged, and he stared straight in front 
of him at the deep white snow that made the walking 
so hard. But there was the little light shining in the 
window, calling him home, and telling him that they 
all believed in him, and knew everything would come 
out all right, even if some people did think he was 
careless and thoughtless. They at home knew how 
kind he was, and how he longed to help them, and to 
38 



OF THE WOODS 


take their father’s place; and they knew how he loved 
the Woods and fields, and all the growing, living 
things, and how he sometimes forgot what he was 
doing in the hard workaday world when he dreamed 
about them. 

But to-night, although he knew all the little light 
was telling him, it could not cheer him, and he felt as 
if whatever he did was but little use, and that what 
people thought of him must surely be true, and that 
he was really as careless and thoughtless as they said 
he was, and not simply a dreamer, who felt kindly to 
everybody. 

“ Well, I’m going to speak to him,” announced 
Willow, and he stepped forward into the moonlight. 

Just then Noel looked over toward the shadow of 
the Woods, for he heard a little rustling and whisper¬ 
ing, and he thought to himself that a breeze must be 
stirring among the trees of Pixie Woods, although he 
could not feel it in the still night air; and as he looked, 
he thought he saw something move in the shadow, 

something dim and indistinct, and of beautiful soft 
39 





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U|ljliM)«..«.hUv.<iiri.’ 








(aTrfoTni 


^ ocl” he called in siimKln lilUc -voice. 


40 



























OF THE WOODS 


colors; and the whispering and rustling seemed to 
come from it; and sometimes it seemed to sway and 
swing, and come a little way forward, and then go 
back again among the trees; and still the gentle mur¬ 
muring little sound like the sough-soughing of a little 
summer breeze through the tree tops on a sleepy Au¬ 
gust afternoon. And as he looked, something de¬ 
tached itself from the swaying, swinging mass in the 
shadow and came toward him, and as it stepped into 
the moonlight, he saw it was a tiny figure. 

It was such a perfect little figure, and so small, not 
much taller than the handle of his basket; and it was 
such a dainty, delicate, little figure, as if it were made 
from summer mists, and it moved across the snow in 
the moonlight so easily, it seemed to glide along, 
rather than walk. 

“ Noel,” it called in a silvery, tinkly, little voice. 

Noel stood still for a minute listening. 

And as he came nearer, Noel could see the little 
face in the moonlight. A very, very, delicate, little 

face, just like a child’s; with softly parted lips, and 
41 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


eyes wide apart, and very wide open, as they looked 
up to Noel questioningly. 

“ Noel,” asked Willow Pixiekin, coming quite close 



to Noel, and looking up at him, “ did you ever want 
anything very, very much? ” 

Noel stared at Willow Pixiekin for a minute; then 
the meaning became clear, and his eyes filled with 
tears. 


42 




OF THE WOODS 


“ Yes,” Noel answered, almost in a whisper. “ Yes, 
very, very much. But I can’t have what I want.” 

Willow Pixiekin came a little nearer still, and the 
moving, swaying mass of soft and beautiful colors in 
the shadow of Pixie Woods came nearer, nearer, un¬ 
til it reached the edge of the shadow, and then glided 
into the moonlight, when Noel could see it was a whole 
group of delicate little figures like Willow, who was 
looking at him so carefully. 

And Noel knew that these must be the Pixiekins 
themselves, that he had so often tried to see. He un¬ 
derstood now that the soft, gentle, sough-soughing 
like a summer breeze that he had heard a few mo¬ 
ments ago, was the Pixiekins talking to each other. 
And he now remembered that he had often heard 
that same sound in Pixie Woods in the summer; then 
he recalled a little silvery, tinkly sound that he had 
often heard, and now he knew that it must have been 
the Pixiekins laughing; and once he had heard a sil¬ 
very, clear sound, like the most delicate silver bells 

coming through the trees and bushes, and now he 
43 



NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


knew that it was the Pixiekins singing. And he re¬ 
membered at that time how all the birds had begun 
to sing, and the crickets and grasshoppers had chirped 
and trilled, and a little tree frog had piped a clear and 
flute-like solo, so the whole of Pixie Woods had be¬ 
come a perfect orchestra, but always the silvery, bell¬ 
like thread of sound was leading. 

“Are you sure that you can’t have what you want, 
Noel? asked Willow softly. “ W^e all get what we 
truly want if we are only willing to try hard enough 
for it.” 

“ I have tried,” said Noel sadly. “ I’ve tried and 
tried, and it’s no use. I’ve tried to be careful; and 
not lose things; or break things; and I’ve tried to 
think what I was doing; and then I’ve seen the 
beautiful blue sky, and the glorious clouds streaming 
across it; or the Blue Jays have called me from the 
tree tops; or the fish in the river have come and 
glowed, and sparkled in the sunlight; and I have 
again forgotten everything I was doing. And people 

have said I was careless and thoughtless, and I sup- 
44 



OF THE WOODS 


pose it is true. And I can’t help it, however hard 
I try.” 

All the rest of the Pixiekins had come up close and 
gathered round Noel, and as he paused they all looked 
at each other, as if they didn’t quite know what to do. 
And with them had come the White Rabbits with the 
shell-pirfk ears, who sat up with twitching noses, and 
ears held up very straight, as though they, too, were 
trying to think what would be the right thing to do 
next. 

“And to-day,” Noel continued, “ while I was work¬ 
ing for the Woodchopper and his men, I dropped 
their big saw that I was carrying to them, into the 
river, while I stopped on the bridge to watch the cakes 
of ice float by, and he was very angry, and he said he 
wouldn’t be bothered any longer with a boy who lost 
his tools, and couldn’t think what he was doing. And 
I had to give him half my week’s wages, to help pay 
for the saw. And now I haven’t any work, and I 
only had money enough to buy bread and milk for 

our New Year’s dinner, when everybody else has pie, 
45 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


and cake, and puddings, and candy, and fruit, and 
roast turkey,” and Noel began to sob bitterly. 

Again the Pixiekins looked at each other, and one 
who was at the back of the group whispered to New 
Year, who was standing next to him, “ Perhaps he 
isn’t such a bad boy after all.” 



“ I think perhaps he needs a little help,” New Year 
whispered back. 

Just then Chestnut Pixiekin came up very close to 
Noel, and looked at him very carefully. 

“ Noel,” he said, “ we all want things. And some¬ 
times we have to help each other get them. Did you 
46 



OF THE WOODS 


ever try helping some one else, and letting them help 
you, instead of just trying to help yourself? ” 

Noel shook his head. 

“ I can’t help myself,” he said. “ So how could I 
help any one else? Although I would love to if I 
only knew how.” 

“There are ways,” continued Chestnut Pixiekin. 
“And I am going to tell you about ourselves. We 
Pixiekins are very busy people, and have to work hard 
all the year. We have to help the birds and the 
squirrels, and all the Woods people; we have to help 
the flowers get through the hard ground in the spring¬ 
time, and get their leaves straightened out; and the 
trees to open their buds and untangle their catkins; 
and keep the dust brushed off the leaves in the sum¬ 
mer; and in the fall there are the dried leaves to be 
gathered up, and packed round the roots of all the 
trees and bushes, and wild flowers, so they will be nice 
and warm in the winter. But New Year’s Day is a 
holiday for us, the only one we have in the whole year, 

and we do want to have the best time we can on that 
47 



NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


day; and when there is a good, deep fall of snow like 
this, we do love coasting.” 

“ So do I,” said Noel. 

“And we can’t go coasting this New Year,” con¬ 
tinued Chestnut, sadly, “ just because the snow is so 
deep, and so soft, that our sleds won’t slide.” 

Now Noel noticed that each Pixiekin had a sled 
with him, made from an oak leaf. Then he looked 
down at the snow that came half-way up to his knees, 
and realized that their sleds surely could not go 
through it. 

“ I wish I could help you,” he said, “ but I don’t 
know how.” 

When he said this it seemed to make the Pixiekins 
quite happy, although he could not understand why, 
but they began to smile and talk, and crowded up 
close to him. 

“ If you will help,” said New Year, “ I think I can 
tell you how.” 

“ Of course I’ll help,” said Noel, quite forgetting 

how tired he was, and how he only had bread and milk 
48 




OF THE WOODS 


in his basket for dinner to-morrow. “ What shall 
I do?” 

“ If you had one of those pine branches that broke 
off in the last storm,” New Year said, “ I think you 
could sweep some of the soft snow off, then we could 
trample it down hard.” 

“ Yes, I know where there is a big one,” said Noel. 
Then he looked all round for a place to leave his 
basket, with the bread and milk in it. 

“ Where shall I put my basket? ” he asked. “ Per¬ 
haps on the big rock over there would be a good 
place.” 

“ Oh, bring it up the Hill a little way,” suggested 
Willow. “ Bring it over to that group of rocks near 
the big pine tree. Then we can clear the snow off 
some of them, and it will stand quite firmly, and the 
bread and milk will be safe.” 

So Noel carried the basket, and all the Pixiekins 
and all the White Rabbits with the shell-pink ears 
came with him over to the group of rocks, quite near 

the edge of the Woods, where the very largest of the 
49 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


pine trees grew, and looked as if it was a sentinel 
standing on guard, in front of the entrance to Pixie 
Woods. When they got there, the Pixiekins set to 
work to brush the snow off some of the rocks that 
were on the side of the group that was nearest to the 
Woods. Some got little pine twigs and others got 
bunches of dried leaves to brush it with, and the rest 
of them scraped it off with their hands, while the 
White Rabbits with the shell-pink ears galloped round 
and round them, and burrowed into the snow and 
jumped over the small rocks, as if they, too, were 
working just as hard as the rest. 

“ There, put it here,” Chestnut told Noel. “ Then 
some of us will stay here and take care of it.” 

“ Hadn’t I better put it on the top of the biggest 
rock? ” asked Noel. “ Then the White Rabbits will 
not get at it.” 

“ Oh, no,” replied Chestnut, “ the lower rock will 
be the best, because then we can reach the top of the 
basket, and drive them away.” 

So Noel put his basket on the rock they had cleared 
50 




OF THE WOODS 


for it, and all the Pixiekins came and pulled at it, to 
be sure that it stood quite firmly. 

“ Now the big rock beside it,” said Willow, “ will 
shelter it from the breeze,” and they all walked round 
and round it, to look at it from every side, and be 
quite sure that it would be safe. 

Then Noel and some of the Pixiekins started back 
toward the Hillside where the slide was to be made, 
and the rest of them stayed round the rocks to take 
care of the basket. As they went along they came to 
a big pine branch that had been blown off during the 
storm, and Noel picked it up and took it along with 
him, to sweep the snow off with. Then when they 
came to the place where the slide was to be, Noel tried 
to sweep the soft snow away with the pine branch. 
But the snow blew back as fast as he swept it off; and 
the pine branch would only go over the top of it, and 
stir it up, and it seemed as if he was not going to be 
able to do anything with it. 

Then Noel stopped and thought; and all at once 

he grew very red and uncomfortable. 

51 



NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


“ I know what I ought to do,” he stammered. “ I 
left our snow shovel just beyond the big rock last 
night when I started to clear the path, and I never 
put it in the tool shed as I ought to have done, and I 
forgot it. I heard a little screech owl calling in the 
Woods while I was shoveling, and so I left the path 
and followed the owl, and I meant to have shoveled 
the path when I came back. But then the moon was 
shining and the big storm-clouds were gathering 
again, and I could see all their silver lining near the 
moon, and I forgot all about the path, and the shovel 
too. But if I get it now, I think I can do much better 
with it.” 

And Noel hurried past the Pixiekins to where the 
shovel lay half-buried in the snow, and he pulled it 
out, and started again to try to shovel a path down 
the Hill. 

Some of the Pixiekins followed him, and danced 
up and down the path as he shoveled it, and tramped 
on the snow, and others got hemlock branches and 

beat it down hard, and the moon shone more brightly 
52 



OF THE WOODS 


than ever, and it seemed as if the Man-in-the-Moon 
was smiling and smiling at the little light in the win¬ 
dow of Noel’s house, just as if he was saying: “ I 
knew it would be all right. You keep right on shin¬ 
ing. I’m going to.” 

Some of the Pixiekins stayed right round the big 



rocks where the basket was. And they danced up 
and down, and round and round, like beautiful butter¬ 
flies, dancing over the snow in the moonlight. And 

some of them would go off into Pixie Woods, and 
53 



NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


presently others would come out of the Woods, and 
they seemed very busy, right round the rocks. 

Noel shoveled and shoveled, and sometimes he felt 
very tired; and sometimes he came to a big drift that 
was hard to shovel through. When he got half-way 
down the Hill, he came to the deepest drift of all, the 
very one where Elm Pixiekin had lost his balance 
and rolled into the snow, when they all ran down the 
Hill, and Chestnut and Oak had pulled him out. 
When he got to that place, Noel shoveled and 
shoveled, but it seemed as if he could not get through 
the deep snow, and he was getting very tired, and 
presently he stopped to rest. As he looked down 
the long Hill, he felt as if he could never get to the 
end of it. Just then Chestnut Pixiekin came and 
joined him. 

“ Oh, Noel,” Chestnut cried out, “ just look up 
the Hill and see how much you have shoveled. You 
are more than half-way down. And see how the 
little light in the window is shining brighter than 

ever. And you know we all of us only have to work 
54 



OF THE WOODS 


one minute at a time. And a minute is a very little 
thing, and when we have done one minute’s work 
we only have the next minute to think of, until when 



we look back we find we have done hours and hours 
of work.” 

“ I never thought of that,” declared Noel. “ I 
have only thought how tired I was, and how long the 

hours were before I could do something I wanted to, 
55 
















*y a few minutes he was through the drift. 


56 

















OF THE WOODS 


But a minute is only a very little while, and I have 
only been shoveling at this drift for a few minutes, 
and it has taken a whole lot of them to get as far as 
this. I’m not going to give it up because of three or 
four minutes more of hard work.” 

And Noel set to work again eagerly, and in a few 
minutes he was through the drift. 

And the Man-in-the-Moon smiled at the little 
light in the window, and seemed to say, “ There, I 
told you so. Everything is going to be all right. 
Just keep right on shining. I’m going to.” 

And as the shoveling again became easy, Chestnut 
Pixiekin kept close to Noel and encouraged him. 

“What is it you want, Noel?” asked Chestnut 
Pixiekin, “ that you think you cannot have? ” 

“ Lots of things,” said Noel. “ I want to have a 
good dinner like other folks. And I want to buy 
Mother a fine warm dress, and little sister Betty a 
good coat, and big sister Jacinth a muff.” 

“ Those things need money,” said Chestnut Pixie¬ 
kin, “ and the way to get money is to earn it; and to 
57 



NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


earn it people must be able to do things just as well or 
a little bit better than any one else can. Why can't 
you earn money, Noel? ” 

“ Because I’m careless,” said Noel. 

“ But you are not careless now,” replied Chestnut. 

“ Because I want to help you,” said Noel. 

“ Then you must not be careless, because you want 
to help others. The way to help others is to help 
yourself first.” 

“ I do want to help others,” declared Noel. 

“And your wish is the first step toward doing it,” 
replied Chestnut, “ for if we don’t wish for things, 
why, we don’t try to get them.” 

Noel shoveled away, and it seemed as if it got much 
easier as he thought of what Chestnut had said to 
him. And the White Rabbits with the shell-pink 
ears came and scampered all round him, as if to keep 
him company, and some of them ran first and bur¬ 
rowed into the deep places, just as if they were try¬ 
ing to help him, and some of them sat up, and their 

long ears shone pink in the moonlight, and their noses 
58 



OF THE WOODS 


twitched, just as if they were trying to encourage him, 
till Noel laughed with glee as he looked at them, and 
then the shoveling seemed all fun, and not hard work 
at all. 

“ I declare, we’ve got to the bottom of the Hill,” 


sung out Chestnut. “ Just look back, Noel, and see 
the long shining path you have dug for us. It will 

make the finest slide we have ever had.” 

59 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


And so there was. There was a shining path, 
glistening in the moonlight all the way down the Hill, 
and the White Rabbits with the shell-pink ears were 
racing up and down it from where Noel and Chest¬ 



nut were, to the group of Pixiekins who were tramp¬ 
ing it down hard under New Year’s direction. 

And as Noel looked up the Hill he saw that some 

of the Pixiekins seemed very busy round the big 
60 



OF THE WOODS 


rocks where he had left his basket. They would run 
off into the Woods, and when they came back they 
seemed to be carrying parcels and packages of all 
sizes and shapes, and some of them seemed to he 
dragging things on their sleds, and they would dis¬ 
appear with them behind the rocks, and presently 
others would come bringing more packages, and 



there seemed to be giggling and scolding, just like a 
lot of boys and girls. “ There, put it there,” Noel 
thought he heard them say. “ Be very careful or it 
will spill out,” another seemed to reply; then he 

thought he heard, “ Sh-h-h, don’t let Noel hear.” 

61 







NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


“ I have tried and tried to see the Pixiekins,” Noel 
said, “ when I have been in the Woods. And some¬ 
times I have thought I could hear you all about me, 
but when I looked under the leaves, and round the 
rocks, I never could find you.” 

“ No,” replied Chestnut Pixiekin, “ we are only 
visible to mortal eyes in the moonlight, and then only 
to those who like us. We do not want the others to 
see us, who do not care for us. But we can see you 
all the time. And when folks come to our Woods who 
are good friends with the plants, and birds, and rab¬ 
bits, and frogs, and bees, and all the other Wood 
Folks that they can see, then we watch them, and 
dance round them, and talk to them, and sometimes 
they can hear us; and then when some one comes who 
we want to know us very much, then we sing to them.” 

“ I heard you sing once,” declared Noel, “ and it 
was like the most beautiful chimes on silver bells. I 
wish I could hear it again.” 

“ You will sometime,” said Chestnut very softly; 

“ perhaps when your wish has come true. But you 
62 




OF THE WOODS 


have made us very happy to-night, for you have given 
us the most beautiful slide down this path, and we can 
now celebrate New Year’s birthday as we always 
have done.” 

“ Is that New Year,” asked Noel, “who told me 
how to make the slide, and who has the big book un¬ 
der his arm? ” 

“ Yes,” replied Chestnut. 

“ Why,” all at once exclaimed Noel, “ if I had 
shoveled the path last night your slide would have 
been all ready for you, wouldn’t it? ” 

“ Yes,” said Chestnut, “ and we were in great 
trouble because no one else comes this way but you, 
and we feared that you would not be willing to help 
us.” 

“ I’ll always shovel it after this,” said Noel. “ I 
never thought that what I didn’t do would ever 
trouble any one but myself. And I’ll be careful 
too.” 

“ There,” declared Chestnut, “ you want to make 

that your pledge for the New Year.” 

63 



NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


“ What is the pledge? ” demanded Noel. 

“ Why,” explained Chestnut, “ when the New Year 
comes you think of all the things you have done dur¬ 
ing the Old Year, and some of them you feel you 
can do better in the New Year, so you promise you 
are going to do them the best way you can, and then 
you sign your name in New Year’s big book. And 
presently if something goes wrong, and you can’t 
possibly do the thing just as you promised, New 
Year lets you turn over a new leaf, and promise again. 
Because New Year has a whole lot of days in his 
book, and sometime when we cannot do just as we 
would like to, on one day, he says there is always an¬ 
other day coming that we can do better in, and he 
wants us always to have another chance. He told 
us all about it as we were coming to the Hill, after 
we had found there wasn’t any path to slide down.” 

“ I want to sign New Year’s book,” declared Noel. 
“ I want to promise to be careful, and to remember 
that if I take care of the work for just one minute 

at a time, the hours will teach me how to be a good 
64 




OF THE WOODS 


workman, and I want to promise to try and help 
myself, so I can help others.” 

“ Come on,” cried Chestnut; “ come on up the Hill 
and sign the pledge,” and he caught hold of Noel and 
pulled and pulled till they came up the Hill, to where 
New Year was beside the big rocks. 

“ Noel wants to sign his pledge,” panted Chestnut. 



New Year hurried to open his big book at the very 
first nice, new, clean page, and all the Pixiekins 

crowded round to see Noel sign the first pledge. 

65 





NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


“ I promise to be very careful,” wrote Noel, “ and 
to learn to be a good workman, and to help myself so 
I can help others.” Then he wrote his name very 
large at the end,—“ N-O-E-L.” 

“And we are going to help him,” exclaimed all the 
Pixiekins together, “ because he has helped us. And 
that’s our pledge.” 

“ Fine! Fine! ” exclaimed New Year, and he hur¬ 
ried to turn to another nice, new, clean page, and 
Chestnut wrote their promise at the top. 

“ We are all going to help Noel to be careful, help¬ 
ful, and to become a good workman this year,” and 
then he wrote his own name at the end, “ C-H-E-S-T- 
N-U-T P-I-X-I-E-K-I-N.” Then all the other 
Pixiekins wrote their names after his. There was 
Oak Pixiekin, and Willow Pixiekin, and Sassafras 
Pixiekin, and when it came to the turn of Elm and 
all the other little Pixiekins who could not yet write 
their names very well, Willow wrote for them, and 
they made a cross after it, just like this, “ Elm 
Pixiekin, His + Mark.” 


66 




OF THE WOODS 


“ That is fine! ” declared New Year again, as the 
last little Pixiekin made his mark in the Book of 
Days. “ If only everybody else made as good 
pledges as those first ones, what a splendid year this 
will be! ” 



And then all the White Rabbits with the shell-pink 
ears jumped and galloped round them, as if they 
were so glad that they really did not know what to 
do. And the big round moon was shining so brightly 
67 








jyytnjlw heavj it is!”Exclaimed Noel. 


68 


a 






















OF THE WOODS 


in the sky and the Man-in-the-Moon seemed to be 
just laughing and laughing down at the little light 
that was shining so bravely in the window of Noel’s 
house, and he seemed to say, “ There, I knew we 
should do it all right. Everything’s fine! What we 
have to do is just to keep shining! ” 

“ Now I must go home,” said Noel. “ Where is 
my basket? ” 

“ Here, quite safely at the back of the rock,” an¬ 
swered Willow. 

Then Noel went over to the rock where he had 
placed his basket so it would not be blown over by 
the breeze if one came by, and he took hold of it, but 
he could hardly lift it. He felt very much surprised; 
for it had been so very light when he put it there, as 
there was only bread and milk in it. He thought it 
must have caught on something, so he passed his hand 
around the back of it, and the Pixiekins came and felt 
all round it too. Then he tried again. 

“How heavy it is!” exclaimed Noel. “Why, I 
can hardly lift it! ” 


69 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


“ Oh no,” declared Willow; “ you are tired, Noel. 
You have done a lot of hard work to make that slide 
for us, and it just seems heavy because you are tired. 
But we will carry the snow shovel.” 

Several of the Pixiekins took hold of the shovel. 
Three of them held by the long round handle, and 
two took hold of the end of the handle, and then they 
found they could carry it very comfortably, while 
Noel carried the basket. But it seemed to grow 
heavier and heavier at every step, and when he had 
carried it just a little way he had to put it down again 
on the snow and rest. 

While Noel was resting all the Pixiekins gathered 
round him. And the White Rabbits with the shell- 
pink ears came and sat up in a circle round them. 
And the Man-in-the-Moon seemed to just laugh and 
laugh, as he looked down upon them all. 

Then the Pixiekins told Noel how they meant to 
keep their pledges for the New Year. 

“ I am going to see how you are getting along,” 

said Chestnut, “ every day. And I shall talk to you. 
70 




OF THE WOODS 


Sometimes you will be able to hear what I say, but 
sometimes you will only be able to hear my voice. 
But you will know I am there.” 

“ Indeed I shall,” replied Noel. “ I think I shall 
be able to hear you quite plainly after this.” 

“And I,” said Oak, “ shall send my friends the 
White Rabbits with the shell-pink ears to see you 
while you are working. Because you can see them 
even in the sunlight. So when a white Bunny comes 
and sits up very straight, quite close to you, you will 
know that I am somewhere around to keep you 
company.” 

“ I shall know,” said Noel. 

“And I,” said Elm, “ shall send my friends the Blue 
Jays to see you. They are so brave and strong that 
when they come and call all round you, then you will 
know that I am there to remind you that we only 
have to work one minute at a time, and one minute 
is never worth being discouraged over.” 

“ I shall understand,” said Noel. 

Then Noel lifted up the basket again and ItKe 
ft 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


Pixiekins carried the snow shovel, and they went al¬ 
most as far as Noel’s gate, then he had to put the 
basket down again. 



“ I am going next to the Woodchopper’s,” said 
New Year while they gathered round Noel, “ to get 
his pledge for the New Year. And I believe he will 
see by this time that he was very hasty to have been 
so cross with Noel.” 


72 



OF THE WOODS 


“We all make mistakes,” said Chestnut. “And 
perhaps he will see his now.” 

“And, Noel,” New Year continued, “ if I were 
you I should go and see the Woodchopper in the 
morning, and tell him about your pledge for the New 
Year.” 

“ I will,” said Noel, “ and perhaps he will try me 
again.” 

Then Noel took up the basket again, and at last 
they reached the front door of his tiny house, and he 
set the basket on the top step, while he knocked. 
Then when he turned round to thank the Pixiekins for 
bringing the snow shovel, why, they had all disap¬ 
peared, but there was the snow shovel standing be¬ 
side the door, just as if it had always been there, but 
off at the edge of the Woods, right in the shadow of 
the trees, Noel thought he could see a faint, shadowy 
something, swaying and swinging, coming forward, 
and then going back among the tree trunks, and it 
seemed to be all the beautiful soft browns, and gold, 
and gray, and violet of the autumn colors, and he 
73 




74 




































































































































































































































OF THE WOODS 


could hear a gentle rustling and whispering, like the 
sough-soughing of a soft little summer breeze on a 
sleepy August afternoon. 

Just then there was a rustle, and a scutter, beside 
the gate, and for just one moment Noel saw a White 
Rabbit with shell-pink ears sit up straight, and its pink 
ears looked very long in the moonlight, then it hurried 
away to the moving mass in the shadow of the big 
trees, and he knew the Pixiekins were watching him, 
and were ready to help in all his problems of the com¬ 
ing year. 

Just then his mother opened the door, and was very 
glad to see him, for she had been quite anxious, in 
spite of all the little light had tried to tell her, be¬ 
cause Noel was so late. 

“ Why, what a lot of things you have bought, 
Noel,” she said, as she helped him carry the basket 
into the house. 

“ I wish I had,” replied Noel, “ but I only had 
enough money to buy bread and milk.” 

Together they lifted the basket onto the table, and 
75 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


Jacinth and little Betty were helping Noel out of his 
thick coat and the big muffler round his neck, while 
his mother opened the basket. 

“ Why! Look! ” she exclaimed. 

And Betty and Jacinth tiptoed to see over the 
brim of the basket, and it was full to the very top 
with good things, while Noel looked, and looked, and 
could not believe his own eyes. 

“Oh, Noel! ” exclaimed Betty. “You dear old 
Noel, you remembered how I love maple sugar. 
And see the great cakes of it.” 

“And how I love honey,” declared Jacinth. “ You 
dear, kind Noel. And you just told us that you only 
had bread and milk to tease us, and make us per¬ 
fectly wild with delight when we saw the fine New 
Year’s dinner you had brought for us.” 

“ That’s just like my own Noel,” said Mother; 
“ cannot do enough for us. No wonder you are so 
late, dear, buying all these things. You must be 
tired out.” 

“ But, Mother,” protested Noel, “ I really did only 
76 




OF THE WOODS 


buy bread and milk, and it must have been the Pixie- 
kins who did it.” 

Then they took all the things out of the basket, and 
there were cakes, and pies, and puddings, and candy, 
and oranges, and nuts, and grapes, and right in the 
middle of it was a fine, big plum pudding, all ready 
to cook. And it seemed as if the more they took out, 
the more there was; and they piled the good things 
up on the table till it was full, and they knew they 
could never have packed all those things into two 
baskets the size of Noel’s. 

“ Oh, Mother! ” declared Noel, “ it must have been 
the Pixiekins. I always knew they were in the 
Woods. I’ve heard them talking, and dancing, and 
once I heard them singing, when I was in the Woods 
in the summer time, and it was like the most beautiful 
chimes on silver bells, and the birds and bees sang to 
it, and to-night I have really seen them. They told 
me I could only see them in the moonlight, and they 
are just as beautiful to look at as their singing is to 
hear. An d they are going to help me all this New 
77 




NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


Year to be careful, and helpful, and to learn how to 
be a good workman.” 

“ The Pixiekins have always been good neighbors 
to us,” his mother replied. “ But have your supper 
now, and then tell us all about it.” 

Then Betty and Jacinth were so glad to have him 
home again that they couldn’t do enough for him. 
Betty got his thick warm slippers that had been wait¬ 
ing before the fire for him all the evening, and 
Jacinth hung up his thick overcoat, and cap, and 
then she made him come and sit in front of the fire 
to get thoroughly warm while Mother got his supper. 
And when his supper was ready they all came and 
sat round the table to hear his adventures, while he 
ate the big bowl of steaming bread and milk that his 
mother placed before him, and then she had a dish of 
broth that was waiting for him in front of the fire, and 
there was a big dish of pudding to finish with. Noel 
ate all he needed, for he was very hungry, then he be¬ 
gan to tell them all that had happened to him. 

“ I am very late to-night,” began Noel, “ because 
78 




OF THE WOODS 


this afternoon I lost the Woodehopper’s big saw as I 
stopped on the bridge, and let it fall into the river, 
and he and his men were very angry, and I had to 
give him half my week’s money to help pay for it, and 
because of it he said he would not have me work for 
him any more.” 

Noel hung down his head and choked back a sob, 
and his mother leaned over the table and patted his 
hand. 

“ It will come out all right, Noel,” she said. “ He 
didn’t understand how sorry you were to lose it.” 

“And then I went to the market,” Noel continued, 
“ and I waited round among the stalls, and tried to get 
some work to do, so I might earn a little to help us. 
And I did unpack some barrels for one man, and I 
wrapped some parcels for another one, and I carried 
a basket home for a woman, and so I earned enough 
to buy Betty a tiny cake of maple sugar, and 
Jacinth a little comb of honey, but I couldn’t get any¬ 
thing for Mother,” and again there was a troubled 
pause. 


79 



NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


“ You’ve done it all for Mother, dear,” she said. 

“ So it was very late when I came up the Hill/* 
Noel went on again, “ and I felt very downhearted, 
and it seemed as if everything in the world was wrong. 
And as I reached the middle of the Hill, some one 
called me, and there right in the snow was a Pixiekin. 
The most beautiful little figure! And he asked me 
if I had ever wanted anything very much. And then I 
told him what had happened to me, and a whole band 
of them came; and the White Rabbits with the shell- 
pink ears came too; and New Year was there, and 
he told me how to make the path they needed to slide 
down for New Year’s Day. And then I put my 
basket on the rock where they told me, and I shoveled 
the path for them, and Chestnut Pixiekin came and 
told me we only have to work one minute at a time, 
and a minute is such a little thing it is not worth be¬ 
ing discouraged about. Then I saw that I only had 
to dig through the drifts, one minute at a time; and I 
only had to be careful one minute at a time, and I 

understood how I could do it. And he told me all 
80 





OF THE WOODS 


about New Year and how he always gave you a 
chance to do better, and how you could always turn 
over a new leaf in the Book of Days, and I just 
pledged that I would be careful, and learn how to be 
a good workman, and all the Pixiekins pledged they 
would help me, and I’m going to do it.” 

“You dear old Noel!” Jacinth exclaimed, and 
Betty came and kissed him. 

“ It did seem such a bad beginning for the New 
Year,” continued Noel, “ when I was coming up the 
Hill, that I hated to come home and tell you all about 
it, and the whole world looked dull and cold, and 
dreary. But after I had shoveled the path, and they 
had told me just what to do, and the White Rabbits 
with the shell-pink ears came and played round me, it 
all seemed different; the moon looked brighter than 
ever before, the stars twinkled, and seemed so friendly, 
and there was such a rustling, and scuttering, and 
fluttering all through Pixie Woods, it seemed as if 
everything was all right again. Then the Pixiekins 
must have filled the basket, and they came with me 
81 



NOEL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE 


to the gate, and I think everything is going to be all 
right again.” 

“ The Pixiekins certainly are good to us,” declared 
Noel’s mother. “And now I have a surprise for you. 
Just before Jacinth and Betty came home from 
school, while I was here alone, one of the Wood- 
chopper’s men came to the house on his way home, 
and he told me that they had been cross with Noel this 
afternoon, but when they had thought it over they 
had decided that they had been too hasty, and that 
they were going to try him again. And they had 
feared that he had not got enough money to buy a 
good New Year’s dinner with, so the Woodchopper 
had sent us a fine fat turkey, and here it is all ready 
to cook,” and she went to the cupboard and brought 
it out to show them. 

“Oh, Mother!” exclaimed Jacinth. “And you 
never told us!” 

“ No,” said Mother, “ I wanted Noel to hear that.” 

“ It will be the finest New Year’s dinner in the 
world,” declared Betty. 


82 



OF THE WOODS 


“And I’m going to see the Woodchopper to-mor¬ 
row morning,” exclaimed Noel, “ even if it is New 
Year’s Day, and tell him that I know how to work 
now, and with the Pixiekins’ help I’ll keep my pledge 
and learn how to be useful, so I can get all we need, 
and it shall be the very happiest year we ever had.” 



83 




BOOKS BY 

Walter P. Eaton 


The Boy Scouts of Berkshire 

A story of how the Chipmunk Patrol was started, what they did 
and how they did it. 313 pages 

The Boy Scouts of the Dismal Swamp 

This story is a continuation of THE BOY SCOUTS OF BERKSHIRE 
and is an unusually interesting book on Boy Scouting. 310 pages 

Boy Scouts in the White Mountains 

Intimate knowledge of the country as well as of the basic princi¬ 
ples o f Boy Scouting characterizes this new volume by Mr. Eaton. 

890 pages 

Boy Scouts of the Wildcat Patrol 

A Story of Boy Scouting 

This story is a continuation of the history of Peanut and the other 
characters which appeared in previous volumes by this author. 

815 pages 

Peanut — Cub Reporter 

A Boy Scout's life and adventures on a newspaper 

A rattling newspaper story with Peanut as the central character 
— he who has figured so prominently in the author’s four Boy Scout 
books. 320 pages 

Boy Scouts in Glacier Park 

The adventures of two young Easterners in the heart of the high 
Rockies. The volume gives an accurate and descriptive picture of 
this Park, and might well be used as a guide book. This book is 
illustrated by wonderful photographs. 836 pages 

On the Edge of the Wilderness 

Tales of Our Wild Animal Neighbors 

Interesting and intimate stories of neighborly wild animals who 
through stressor mistake have wandered close to civilization, and 
of whom glimpses have been obtained. Beautifully illustrated by 
Bull, the great animal illustrator. 336 pages 


“Every story Written by Walter P. Eaton runs true in its de¬ 
scription of nature. He is a toVer of the out-of-doors, a 
"keen observer of animals and a remarkable leader of boys. 
His pictures are real and the spirit behind them betokens 
the lover of Nature that he is, and best of all, you can de¬ 
pend upon the truth of what he Writes/’— She Herald 

$1.75 each 
All prices are NET 












BOOKS BY 


Amy E. Blanchard 


Elizabeth , Betsy and Bess 

If there is one thine that Miss Amy E. Blanchard knows well it is 
the child’s heart, and this knowledge stands her in good stead in 
her recent book. The story runs into just such conversation and 
escapades as three ydung girls are liable to indulge in. Illustrated. 

284 pages 


Elizabeth, Betsy and Bess — School¬ 
mates 

This is the story of the school days of the three girl chums and 
shows the individual development of each one. Every chapter 
is full of the interesting experiences dear to the hearts of girls of 
this age. Illustrated. 820 pages 


A Girl of ’76 

About Colonial Boston. Cloth. 

A story of the earlier period of the Revolutionary War written 
primarily for girls, and the homes and heroines depicted are drawn 
so as to give peculiar interest to its readers. 

881 pages 


A Little Maid of Picardy 

A story full of adventures in the life of a refugee maid of Picardy. 
An American girl with the love of France in her heart tells this 
wonderful story of hardships, yes, and pleasures as well, of the 
heroic refugee. Illustrated with colored frontispiece and cover. 

820 pages 


These books are full of interest to yomng people: they also 
recommend themselves to all U)ho tike to see booiis that 
build character in the hands of our young readers. 


Price, $1.75 emch 

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BOOKS BY 

Lewis E. Theiss 


In Camp at Fort Brady—A Camping 


Story 


Colored Illustrations 


This story will be found helpful to all boys, especially those be¬ 
longing to the Boy Scouts movement. 

no pages 


Lumberjack Bob 

A tale of the Alleghanles, with colored frontispiece 

S18 pages 


His Big Brother 

A story of the struggles and triumphs of a little Son of Liberty 
Illustrated. •*« 


The Wireless Patrol at Camp Brady 

A story of how the boy campers, through their knowledge of 
wireless, “did their bit." illustrated with colored frontispiece 

3SO pages 


The Secret Wireless 

A story of the Camp Brady Patrol. Colored Illustration 

320 pages 


The Hidden Aerial 

The Spy Line on the Mountain. Colored Illustration 

8S0 pages 


The Young Wireless Operator—Afloat 

Or, How Roy Mercer Won His Spurs in the Merchant Marine 

Storms, fog and accidents at sea all lose much of their dangers 
when aboard each vessel is an up-to-date wireless outfit and a 
staunch, reliable boy like Roy Mercer to operate it. 


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BOOKS BY 

Ellen Douglas Deland 


Malvern; A Neighborhood Story 

341 pp. zamo. Cloth. 

“Malvern” is a story of fine workmanship, sterling 
sentiments, and more than ordinary caliber. The author 
is one of the best writers for young people, and this is 
certainly one of her best stories.— The Interior. 

A Successful Venture 

340 pp. zamo. Cloth. 

This book, primarily for girls, is lively and full of 
interest, pure in its tone and free from sensation, and 
full of many helpful suggestions. It is a story of a family 
of girls who found it necessary to make their own way in 
the world. This they did with success.— Boston Transcript. 

Katrina 

340 pp. zamo. Cloth. 

“Katrina” is a story which all girl readers would pro¬ 
nounce a capital good one. The heroine’s desire to look 
beyond the horizon of her little village when opportunity 
presents itself takes her to New York, where she finds new 
pleasures and experiences. The book is certainly a most 
wholesome one.— The Bookseller , New York. 

Three Oirls of Hazelmere. A Story 

360 pp, i2mo. Cloth. 

To take a trip abroad with Miss Deland’s “Three Girls 
of Hazelmere ” is a treat for any reader, for the author’s 
style is natural, yet remarkably effective, and the interest 
follows closely to the end of the book.— Bookseller. 

The Friendship of Anne 

342 pp. i2mo. Cloth. 

This is a book which will appeal to girls and interest 
them throughout. It is founded on boarding-school life 
and is full of activity and enthusiasm.— Herald and Pres¬ 
byter. 

Each Volume Fully Illustrated. Price, $1.75 Net Each 














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